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The Ted Stevens case this week is only the latest example of a judge correcting what he perceived as prosecutorial mistakes.
Reuters

Sullivan called on Attorney General Eric Holder to implement training on the evidence issue “for new and experienced, veteran prosecutors throughout the country.”

The clearly exasperated judge also exhorted President Barack Obama to nominate new U.S. attorneys who are committed to fulfilling their duties to defendants. Sullivan even urged the Senate to extract promises to that effect from potential chief prosecutors at their confirmation hearings.

One veteran trial lawyer who practices in Washington said long-serving judges like Judge Sullivan are often deeply outraged by government misconduct because they realize how many defendants have seen their fates sealed based on promises or assurances from prosecutors.

“Judges that have been on the bench that long rely on the prosecutors, they rely on the government attorneys, because they have to,” said the longtime litigator, who asked not be named. “When their confidence is shaken because of something they’ve seen, suddenly it dawns on them that they’ve been presiding over all these cases all these years and this might be the tip of the iceberg, maybe the wool has been pulled over their eyes. It’s disconcerting.”

Others said the failings were likely to be more widespread than just the Public Integrity Section, at the heart of the Stevens prosecution. “You would think if any section of the Department of Justice would know how to comply ... it would be that section,” said a lawyer who regularly faces off with DOJ attorneys.

Holder said Tuesday that he would seek to restore his department’s credibility by leading by example. “What I think I did in the Stevens case, at great pain, was to tell the world this is not the way in which this Justice Department will conduct itself," he told CBS News.

“History has shown that the people who work in this department are good lawyers, they're fair lawyers, they follow the rules," Holder said. "We're not going to be timid. People should not take from this episode any indication that we're going to be timid in enforcing the laws, going after those that break our laws, especially those who are entrusted with great political positions.”

At Tuesday’s session, Stevens’ defense attorney suggested that because of repeated missteps during the trial, a top Justice official, acting Criminal Division chief Matthew Friedrich should not have held a press conference to praise the prosecution team after the convictions. However, the defense lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, said he was not suggesting Friedrich was involved in the unethical conduct.

Judge Sullivan also suggested a failure of supervision when he twice singled out former Attorney General Michael Mukasey for criticism. After the defense said it had received no reply to three letters sent to Mukasey seeking an investigation of the trial team, the judge said bitterly, “Shocking—but I’m not surprised.”

Readers' Comments (218)

fed up? i doubt that. they are part of the whole freaking mess. look at the 9th circus. look at all the cockamamie rulings they come up with. they will do nothing to these people. the tyranny of the minority.

Scratch the justice department wing of the Bush library. I guess the library will be the of a campsite outhouse. and smell like one too.

Gee, it's a good thing the Clintons purged DOJ back in 92!

I don't recall a similar putge in 2000.

All you need to do to fool left wingers is slap a "Bush" label on something (whether or not it's true) and even the meager intellect and cognitive ability they have shuts down entirely, and they start spewing obsenities like "outhouse."

“When their confidence is shaken because of something they’ve seen, suddenly it dawns on them that they’ve been presiding over all these cases all these years and this might be the tip of the iceberg, maybe the wool has been pulled over their eyes. It’s disconcerting.”

Yes, I believe it is just the tip of the iceberg. We have just lived through eight years of Bush and Cheney. They politicized the Justice Department, trashed the Constitution, and thumbed their noses at us. What will it take before there is an investigation into all of the crimes they committed?

Okay...that was 5-6 years ago. Why hasn't something been done SOONER to clean up the DOJ?

Ashcroft was too busy covering up **** on statues and annointing himself with cookig oil to actually worry about crazy, man-made stuff like law and rules and trials and other stuff not involving Jesus.

All you need to do to fool left wingers is slap a "Bush" label on something (whether or not it's true) and even the meager intellect and cognitive ability they have shuts down entirely, and they start spewing obsenities like "outhouse."

Nice vocabulary there son, does your mother know about it?

Except it's true. Not that the truth ever mattered to Bush lovers and GOP losers.

And how did these august members of the bench get there??? Are they the most qualified? Hell no. If you look into their backgrounds you wlll find all kinds of creepy crap, But suddenly, once they are appointed for life, it's an apotheosis. THey are the keepers of the truth and justice. BS. They got their robes the old fashion way--playing politics...and none of them play fair. The prosecutor was a democrat and she wanted to nail a republican to shift the balance of power in the Senate. This ranks right up there with the democrats who orchestrated the John Tower indictment right before the BUSH -CLINTON election. And now everyone wants to blame Bush 43. Folks the most corrupt presidency in our history is now occupying the White House. But the news media will protect him...Hell they created him.

Yes. The scum of the earth. Why Bush didn't get rid of all of them is beyond me. Clinton got rid of all of them when he was elected and put into place the most corrupt DOJ in history. Primarily because he needed them to clear him of rape, murder (never knew a man who knew so many people who commited "suicide" in my life), whitewater, etc. Bush's biggest mistake was to try to get along with the corrupt libtards. Leaving the DOJ pretty much untouched was just one of his "get along" mistakes.

I like that there is at least an attempt to clean up some of this power grab by the libtards, but shouldn't we start by eliminating all judges that try to legislate from the bench? Oh wait, the libtards wouldn't get their gay marriage or all the other things the American people are against.

Seems that Alberto Gonzalez was an even worse choice than we all thought...as hard as that is to imagine. I hope GW is at home watching all this DOJ stuff and, combined with the systematic dismemberment of everything he stood for, is developing a peptic ulcer thinking about his legacy in regards to the demolition of the Republican party (they deserve it...they're the dumb asses that nominated the freak) and as an American citizen.

As an executive, GW chose Dick Cheney (and Scooter Libby) as his 2nd in command, Don Rumsfeld to head DoD (we all saw how that worked out), Alberto Gonzalez and Michael Mukasey to head DoJ (we all saw how that worked out), Porter Goss to head the CIA (OMG...the worst DCIA in history), Louis Freeh to head the FBI (he now works full time as a defense lawyer to the Saudi Royal family to keep the wraps on Saudi blackmail), with equally pathetic choices to head EPA (Meg Whitman QUIT), DOEnergy, etc. etc.

Good job Republicans. Good job! No wonder America has relieved you of ALL power.

I like that there is at least an attempt to clean up some of this power grab by the libtards, but shouldn't we start by eliminating all judges that try to legislate from the bench? Oh wait, the libtards wouldn't get their gay marriage or all the other things the American people are against.

government is killing me: Apr. 8, 2009 - 2:05 PM EST

Clinton got rid of all of them when he was elected and put into place the most corrupt DOJ in history. Primarily because he needed them to clear him of rape, murder (never knew a man who knew so many people who commited "suicide" in my life), whitewater, etc.

Rockin' to the Golden Oldies, huh? Nothing like a little Clinton Derangement Syndrome to bring back the glory days!!

This little gem is an EXCELLENT example of why Republicans have been stripped of all power and all responsibility for where this country is headed. American citizens have used the electoral knife to remove their balls before kicking them to the curb.

So keep up the good work, Republicans!!! There are plenty more stupid rednecks like GW around to lead your party...its time to hurry up and pick one so we can stomp your ass again in 2012.

Funny how the Democrats opposed efforts by Bush to fire a number of federal prosecutors and now the liberals want to replace all of the federal prosecutors. You cannot have it both ways.

De-politicizing the DOJ is not having it both ways. The Bush Admin did not want to fire prosecutors due to misconduct, they chose to fire those who did not pursue politically-motivated investigations. Had the Bush Administration gotten its way on firing non-politically palatable attorneys, the issues investigated in the article would have been worse.

Critics have consistently called for de-politicization of the DOJ. There's no "two ways" about it.